LARPING
by SoNoAnOu
Summary: Xion gets invited by Roxas to a round of Live Action Roleplaying. What starts out as a mundane game turns into something that seems very real when Axel drags her into his character. Slight RikuXion, RokuNami. Oneshot.  -


YOOOOO everyone.

I just updated TSL yesterday, so I feel very full and complete and very much like writing another, shorter, story. I think I can handle it. It may become more than one chapter. I dunno.

Plus, Riku and Xion is my favorite pairing. In a close second comes Roxas and Namine.

So I just felt like doing another RikuXion thing with minimal conflict involved. I got the idea when my brother and I were talking. I'm still trying to hash out a specific plot on it, but no reason why I can't start now.

**=DISCLAIMER=**

**I do not own Kingdom Hearts, I did not make up LARPING. I do not own the characters. Yes.**

If you're unsure as to what LARPING is... oho, you shall see.

* * *

Xion flattened out her black dress excitedly.

"Xion," she heard the voice of her tall, brunette 'mentor' call, irritated. "Pay attention, will you? We have some customers here looking for food."

Xion bit her lip. "Sorry... sir?" She faced the person at the other side of the counter, checking her apron to make sure she looked professional. "Hello, welcome to the general store. How may I help you?"

"Some bread please," The customer replied. It looked to Xion like he was some sort of Knight or something - well, he was wearing armor. Duh. He probably ran into a bunch of exciting things... but the first-time players like Xion were stuck with boring stuff like Shopkeepers.

Nothing interesting was gonna happen to her.

"Right away, sir knight," she said smoothly, reaching behind her and grabbing one for him in exchange for a gold coin.

Her mentor nodded to her. "You seem to be doing well for a newcomer."

"Th-thank you!"

"It seems as if today will be a peaceful one, no?"

All the medieval talk around Xion was making her head spin. "Uh, yes. I agree. Everything seems... very normal."

It was 6:30am, and Xion was a medieval shopkeeper's assistant right then. Not literally, of course, but she was in the middle of a Live Action Roleplay...

Kind of like when people pretend to be someone else on paper... Live Action Roleplaying, or "LARP-ing," as it was called, was actual people dressed up as pretend knights and princesses and blacksmiths and kings - acting as if what went on was _really_ going on. There were miles and miles of land for this to take place on.

Some of that area was towns... some of it forest... some of it rolling field...

Roxas had done it before, and he convinced a lot of his friends, Xion included, to join into the game that year. She didn't know where the others were yet... but maybe they'd show up later.

"May I have a glass of ale, if you please?" Another traveler asked, slapping his gold coins on the table obnoxiously. Xion nodded in his direction and filled a glass with some 'ale', which was actually just water, and slid it over to him.

Her mentor looked pleased with her work.

It was Xion's first time LARP-ing - and she was extremely excited. Even though the game had just started a few minutes ago, it was difficult to get into the hang of completely forgetting that the whole thing was only just that... a _game_.

She'd get used to it in time. Maybe.

After a few minutes of serving some knights, the shopkeeper gathered their accumulated gold coins in a leather bag and handed it to Xion. He looked kind of worried and shifty-eyed all of a sudden. "Miss Xion, I must ask you to put this in the box at the back of the store. We cannot have our gold out where it may be stolen."

"Uhh... sure." She took the bag carefully and walked to the very corner, where there was a black box. That was probably what he was talking about.

As she opened it to pour the gold inside, something caught her eye.

Something red.

And black.

Her grip on the bag tightened worriedly, and she looked back at her mentor to see that he was kind of far away, busy with another customer.

"Is someone there?" Xion demanded, leaning over to see if someone was hiding behind the corner of the shop.

Suddenly, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her over, away from her shop, and away from her mentor... into the darker alleyway between the stone inn and the tavern.

She opened her mouth to scream, but someone covered up her mouth with a black-gloved hand.

"Don't scream, and I won't have to kill you," A familiar voice murmured, and uncovered her mouth.

Xion turned around to face her captor. "Axel?" She questioned, a grin quickly spreading across her face. Her red-haired friend winked. His gray-and-green tunic blended in perfectly with the walls. "You scared me! I thought you were a thief!"

"You thought _I_ was a thief?" He sounded almost offended - but nevertheless reached over and snatched the leather bag of gold from Xion's hand. "That's a very good guess on your part, I must say."

"WHAT?" Xion reached up and tried to grab the bag back, but Axel was definitely _way_ too tall. "You mean you are? Give it back! That's mine!"

Axel was smiling impishly, but didn't remove the gold from out of Xion's reach. "Hey, we thieves have to make a living too, don't we?"

Well, there was only one thing to do now. Xion stopped jumping, glaring at him angrily. Finally she stomped her foot. "I'm telling my mentor on you!" She snapped, turning around, aiming to run back to the store.

Axel grabbed her by her shoulder. "Whoa, whoa. No can do. If you're gonna be a tattletale, you're coming with me."

Xion stared at him, shocked. "But... I can't! NO! Lemme go!" She started to pull away, but Axel put the bag of gold in his teeth and lifted her off the ground. "HEY! PUT ME DOWN! HELLP! HEEELLLP!"

Nobody paid any attention to the small, black-haired girl struggling as Axel headed through the back allies and took her away.

Her mentor didn't see her for the rest of the game.

x

(ovo;)

x

"This is dumb," Xion muttered to herself, following Axel as he walked along slowly through the woods. "Why'd you have to go and kidnap me? I'm getting my dress all gross and wet now. And... and... I'm tired of walking."

"Shut up," Axel growled back, stopping by a tree. "I think someone's looking for me. I couldn't have you telling anyone I was there... I'd just get caught."

"Well _maybe_ if you didn't steal from me in the _first_ place, HMM?"

"I didn't know it was _you_."

"MAYBE you could just not STEAL!"

Axel turned pointedly to glare at Xion. "I'm a thief. I steal. I stole. There you go."

"UGH!" Xion crossed her arms angrily. "So now, what? Someone's trying to capture you?"

He didn't reply.

Xion blew some hair out of her face.

They walked through the woods a little more before Axel stopped, holding out his hand and indicating to be quiet.

"There's a dirt road here through the trees," He murmured. "I think someone's coming by."

A small party of five or six people with the fake weapons of the game came walking down the forest-flanked path.

"...And then I just took it," One of them was in the middle of saying.

"No kidding!" Another chimed in.

"Yeah, you bet. And then the guy..."

Their voices faded into the distance as they continued on, and when they couldn't be heard any more Xion swallowed.

"Do you think we can use the path now? I bet it's a lot drier there than in the woods."

Her friend shook his head. "No, we shouldn't. It would be way too conspicuous."

"Where are we going, anyway?"

"Shh!" Axel quieted Xion down again. "Someone else is coming! Crouch down!"

Xion got to the ground, feeling the water soaking through her dress and apron, as she stared through the trees.

A tall, silver-haired boy was walking by, carrying an impressive looking sword and a shield with a crown on it. His clothes looked a lot fancier than anyone Xion saw in the town when she was working.

He stopped in the middle of the path, then glanced around, before continuing on. Xion caught a glimpse of some bright teal eyes.

"That's Riku!" She whispered, kind of loudly. Axel covered her mouth - and the pair of them froze.

Riku paused again, seeming to stare in their direction for at least a full 60 seconds. And then he shrugged and moved on.

Axel kept his hand over Xion's mouth until he was _definitely_ long gone.

"S-sorry..." Xion muttered.

"Where's he going..." Axel thought aloud, not acknowledging Xion's apology. "His shield had a crown on it. Does that mean imperial guard?"

"I dunno..."

"Well, we were heading towards the castle anyway," Axel explained, standing up and wiping off his pants. "So we may run into him. He's got a sword, so you gotta be careful he doesn't hit you with it."

"WHAT?" Xion yelled.

Her voice echoed loudly through the trees. Axel's eyes narrowed at her.

"What, what?"

"You're saying we'll have to FIGHT him? I can't fight RIKU!"

He'd proven more than once that he was way more athletic than Xion would ever be. But Axel shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I guess we should stay out of his way."

He continued walking, right next to the dirt road, Xion following. As they made their way in the direction of the castle, they passed by a few parties of people going in the opposite direction they were.

Xion thought for a moment. "Why are we going to the castle?" She questioned, almost not wanting to hear the answer. Knowing Axel, it was definitely something...

"We're gonna rob it!"

...yep, crazy.

Xion stared wide-eyed back at her friend's devilish grin. "ARE YOU INSANE!"

Axel shook his head. "Hear me out, Xion."

Eyes narrowed suspiciously, Xion crossed her arms and nodded, indicating for him to talk. _This_ should be good.

"Okay, I figure that I should make this as interesting as possible. I'm supposed to be a thief... I got these two daggers," He reached behind his back and showed his friend two small plastic weapons. "So I should at least use them. Storming the castle for loot, we can get anything we want after. We can get you a wand or something."

Xion actually thought for a moment.

It was actually... true. The thought of being a mage with a wand sounded extremely appealing to her... especially since a little while ago she thought the entire day was going to be extremely dull and boring.

After robbing the richest place in the land, they could get _anything_! And all they had to do was be careful.

She rubbed her chin, then finally looked back up at Axel. "Fine. But we can't take too much or we'll get caught."

"Right, let's go!"

Axel led her through the woods, at a faster pace now, clearly excited. Xion could feel it too.

And it wasn't long before the castle was in view, either. It was HUGER than anything she'd seen that day - and made of stone gray stone like the tavern. But the stone blocks were each three feet wide instead of just one foot. A moat was surrounding it, and the drawbridge was down. Conveniently.

"Why's the moat open?" Xion murmured to Axel. "Doesn't that make it kind of... I dunno, _easy_?"

Axel didn't reply for a second, then gasped. "It's because there's something coming in! C'mon, we have to get on the back of it!"

Xion didn't exactly understand what he was talking about at first, but when he grabbed her arm again and dragged her out into the road, she quickly saw a horse-drawn carriage heading up the path to the drawbridge.

It would have definitely closed after it entered - so it was a good call on Axel's part to chase after it and hop onto the back. Xion almost didn't make it on until Axel pulled her - _HARD_ - up under the tarp.

"Gotta be quiet," He said, laying low. Xion followed suit and listened for a few minutes as the cart rattled and shook - and eventually began to rumble as it crossed the bridge. Her excitement grew rapidly.

It came to a stop - probably on the inside of the castle - and Axel poked his head out slightly.

"The coast is clear," He whispered, and the pair hopped out and onto the grass.

They were in a courtyard or something, with bushes shaped like elephants and unicorns and other weird animals - and a big fountain in the center. A few doors led to the inside of the castle, but the cart they'd hitched a ride on headed onward down a separate path.

"Okay, let's go inside. If you hear anyone coming, signal me." Axel was about to walk away, but Xion grabbed his sleeve.

"What should the code word be?"

"Uhh... corn. Yeah, if you're in trouble, say corn."

"Got it."

They snuck across the yard and through one of the doors. It led them into a hallway that had nice, black and white glass tiles. They walked close to the wall, keeping their eyes peeled for anyone that could be coming.

"There has to be a treasurer around here somewhere..." Axel muttered to himself, peering through one wooden door. He gasped loudly.

"What?" Xion asked, rubbing her hands together.

"Piles of gold in here! C'mon, we have to get as much as possible!"

They went in and carefully slipped the door shut to the - strangely, unguarded - money filled room...

But as Axel walked near one of the stacks of gold, he tripped on a cord that was laid across the ground, making what looked like mounds and mounds of concealed pots and pans start topple all over the place.

"It was a trap!" Xion yelled, feeling the pit of worry start to form in her stomach and turning around to the doorway. "We have to get out of h-"

She broke off, seeing a sword point to her throat.

On the other end of the weapon stood Riku, a smirk printed cockily on his face.

"Uhh... Axel?" She muttered. "_Corn_."

"Well, well, well," He chuckled. "Look who got caught in our little mouse trap."

Axel was on the floor looking very angry and embarrassed at the same time. "Shoulda checked for booby traps..." He mumbled.

"Yeah, yeah," Riku said. "Get up. Apprehend the criminals, men!"

Other knights appeared from further down the hallway - and they had rope. Whoopee!

Before long both Xion and Axel had their hands tied behind their backs quite tightly, and they were being led down one of the pretty hallways in the direction of an impressive looking door. Riku pushed it open to show a HUGE, decorated room that was filled with the music of what seemed to be a lute. On the far end of the room was an extremely fancy throne.

And in the throne...

Sat Roxas.

"Roxas?" Xion gasped in disbelief. "YOU'RE the king?"

Her best friend laced his fingers together and crossed his legs. In a slightly less important-looking chair next to him was Namine, dressed as a queen, crown and all.

"You will say _'your Majesty'_ when referring to me," He said seriously. "What have we here, Sir Riku, my champion knight?"

Riku bowed before his king before speaking - and the other soldiers behind him did too. "It seems we've caught the famed thief, Axel the Ambidextrous, wanted throughout the land. And... he appears to have found himself an accomplice while trying to steal from the royal treasury," He gestured to me with his sword. "What shall we do with them, your Highness?"

"AXEL THE AMBIDEXTROUS!" Xion yelled, her head snapping over to look at Axel. He looked pretty guilty. "YOU'RE A FAMOUS THIEF! WANTED _THROUGHOUT_ THE LAND? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

"Sorry!" Axel moaned. "I didn't think it was important!"

"NOT IMPORTANT! I WOULDN'T HAVE EVEN-"

"SILENCE!" Roxas - er, _King_ Roxas barked. "Off with their heads!"

Both Xion and Axel's jaws dropped.

"Wh-wha? No, Roxas, it's me, Xion!" She moaned. "What do you mean, 'off with our heads'? You're not serious, right? I mean... I'm you're best friend, aren't I?"

"I know not of any 'Xion'," Roxas declared, making her worries grow deeper.

"But-"

"The word of your king is final!" Namine called, crossing her arms. "Riku, take them to the chamber. They shall wait for their demise."

Riku nodded and took Xion by the shoulder, dragging her off, his men bringing Axel close behind.

He threw them into an outdoor chamber that was completely encased in stone except for the top, which was open to the blue sky.

"Have fun in there," He grinned, turning and walking down the hallway while Xion and Axel were spitting out dirt from the floor. "I'll be back to check up on you two soon."

When he disappeared, the pair sat there.

"Great." Xion snapped. "Just great. Axel the Ambidextrous. Wonderful."

While Xion got to complaining, Axel was checking the bricks on the walls for something.

"What are you doing now?" Xion moaned. "We're tied up in here, there's nothing we can do!"

"Well," her friend chuckled, wiggling around and loosening something from his belt. "Axel the Ambi-whatever has something up his sleeve. Or... belt, rather." And with that, his knives fell out of their sheaths and onto the ground.

"Axel!" Xion gasped. "You're a genius! They didn't take your knives!"

"I can cut the rope and use the knives to wedge one of the bricks out of place. And then we can escape." He started rubbing up against the pretty sharp edge of the blade, and before long the rope was cut. He took the knife and cut through Xion's binds, then set to work on taking out a brick. "Here, take this knife and help."

With the two of them working at it, it didn't take long for the brink to become easy to push out... and it made a big enough hole for them to climb through, one at a time.

"Okay," Xion whispered, replacing the block into the wall. "Riku's gonna notice we're gone soon and come after us. We should get going."

"Right," Axel nodded.

x

(¬_¬ )

x

"Where are we?" Xion questioned as they walked through the bustling village. It was a lot bigger than the one she had started in as a shopkeeper, with a lot more shops. Xion stopped by the counter of a blacksmithy to buy a small knife for herself with the money they had.

Yeah, the stuff Axel took from her store.

"I dunno," Axel shrugged, reaching into someone's pocket and taking some gold coins. "But why are you buying anything at all? We're wanted criminals. We can't get any lower."

"_Well_," Xion huffed, putting her hands on her hips. "Unlike _you_, I actually _have_ values."

"You were about to rob the king a while ago."

"Oh shush."

They made their way through the town's cobblestone street... Axel continuing to steal along the way, despite Xion's protests.

"Where are we going?" She asked, buying some bread with some stolen money. Yeah, that isn't really what you would call values. Oh well.

"Away from Riku. He's out for our heads. Literally." Axel shoved some coins into his pocket as he spoke. "Maybe we should just find a hideout and be done with it."

"Here's an inn... maybe we can take a rest," Xion suggested, leading him through a door into a really big wooden building. There was a counter inside, and plenty of beds for resting on, too.

Surprisingly enough, Olette sat as the innkeeper. "How long will you be staying?" She said politely.

"Olette?" Axel asked, his eyebrows raising.

She jumped. "Oh! You two!" Immediately she ran over and shut the shutters to the building. "Everyone's talking about prison escapees."

Xion and Axel shared a glance.

"_Already_?" Xion said in disbelief. "We only got out like seven minutes ago."

"Well... people have been talking," Olette murmured. "I'm not sure you should stay here for long. Word is Riku's on a relentless search."

"Honestly?" Xion put her hands on her hips, frowning. "_Seven_ minutes. How do you all know this?"

"Hey, news travels fast," The brunette shrugged. "And when you're an innkeeper like me, you hear things."

She walked over to the blinds and opened them again, looking out the window, then back at the two thieves. "I can give you guys anything you need if..."

"Nah, that's all right," Axel shrugged, waving his hand. "We really shouldn't trouble you. Thanks for the info."

Olette waved goodbye as they left... and as they did, Xion rubbed her forehead in annoyance.

"Ugh, can't believe you got me into this," She muttered irritably. "Bread?" She added, offering him a piece. Axel took it... and they came up to a large crowd while eating. Xion glanced at Axel, projecting the message, '_What's going on here?' _And he shrugged - so they pushed through the crowd to see a jester juggling some wooden balls.

Everyone around him was cheering, and Axel joined in.

Xion just squinted at the jester.

"Is that..." She began, tapping her chin. "...Is that _SORA_? SORA!" She called, waving and making the jester drop the balls, startled. Indeed, it was Sora.

A chorus of "awwww"s and "aw, man"s rippled around the large group of onlookers, and they left.

"Oh thank God!" Sora moaned, running over to Xion and Axel.

"Dude, I didn't know you could juggle," Axel said, finishing up the last bits of his bread with a mocking smile.

"I just learned today," The brunette replied, sounded really tired. "This is the worst job ever, man! I'm so glad you're here!"

Xion looked warily back into the bustling town. "Maybe you aren't."

"Huh?"

"Sir Riku's after us. We're wanted criminals."

"No kidding!" Sora grinned, patting Axel on the back. "I think I heard people talking about you. You've got your own nickname or something, right? Lucky!"

Axel looked pretty high and mighty before Xion smacked him on the back of the head. "Yeah, you'd think it would be lucky. Except King Roxas says we're doomed to the death sentence if we're caught."

Sora's grin quickly dropped into a frown. "Oh. Not cool."

"Uhm, yeah. I think-"

"HIDE!" Sora suddenly yelled, pushing Axel and Xion behind a wooden stand.

"Whaa-" Xion began, but broke off when she hit the ground. It wasn't even two seconds before Riku's voice was heard resounding through the town, making everyone go quiet.

"Attention townspeople!" He yelled. Xion heard the rustling of paper. "Anyone harboring these criminals will face the wrath of your Majesty, King Roxas!"

Xion peered through a crack between two planks of wood to see the knight holding up a picture of... them! What?

"How the hell did they get our pictures already!" Xion hissed to Axel, who shrugged.

"Come on, men! To the next town!" Riku stomped on past them, not noticing Sora and leading his group of knights out.

The movement returned to the town almost immediately - and Sora crouched down to speak to them.

"Uh... maybe you guys shouldn't stay here..." He mumbled. "You can lay low by staying behind the wooden stands until you're out of town."

"Thanks, Sora," Axel nodded.

"Good luck," He replied solemnly. "Hope Riku doesn't catch you."

Axel and Xion quickly dashed behind large groups of people, wooden stores, and other buildings, and before long they made it out of town and onto another dirt path flanked by really really thick woods. Their adventure was getting intense.

Xion glanced down at her dress and flattened it, noticing how dirty and completely torn up it was. It obviously wasn't made for that type of hardcore moving around, but there wasn't anything she could do about it then.

None of them really said anything until they came to a fork in the road, with a sign.

"Right to the Green Club Bar, left to the Field of Dreams." Axel read aloud.

"The Green Club thing sounds kind of like a town or something," Xion sorted out. "So Riku would go there next to search for us. I'm thinking we should go the Field way."

"Yeah, me too," Axel nodded, already starting to walk. They slipped into silence again as the trees began to thin out, revealing a gigantic field.

They just kept walking.

Before Xion started to moan.

"My feet are killing me," She groaned finally, after what could have been nine or ten minutes of just walking.

"We _have_ to keep going," Axel commanded while trying to drag her onward.

"I can'ttt..."

"Would you rather die?"

"I dunno..." Xion collapsed into a sitting position on the ground. "But I might as well be dead right _now_. Walking so much is such a drag."

Axel looked tired too... but also reluctant as he sat down next to Xion. "So, this place is pretty."

"Yep, I guess."

"Yep."

An awkward silence ensued.

Xion cleared her throat. "We're gonna be running for the rest of our lives, aren't we?"

Axel moaned and laid down, staring up at the sky. "Looks like it."

"WHO GOES THERE!" A voice boomed, making the pair scramble to their feet, daggers drawn.

"P-Pence?" Xion gasped. It was their chubby friend, indeed, dressed in a blue robe and weird-looking pointy blue hat.

"NAY!" Pence yelled. "It is _I_, the great WIZARD Pencildore!" He held up a pencil, waving it around menacingly.

If both Axel and Xion weren't so tired, they would have literally dropped dead from laughter right there. ((A/N HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA))

Axel stepped forward. "What do you want with us?"

Pence - uhm... Pencildore dropped his hand. "You are trespassing on the land of the great Wizard's house, The Barrel and Cauldron!"

"Uh..." Xion began, sheathing her weapon. "Not to mean any disrespect, Pencil, but.. your house has a dumb name?"

"YES!" Pencildore boomed. "For the house doubles as a bakery!"

"A... bakery?" Axel echoed.

"YES! A BAKERY! COME! I SHALL TAKE YOU THERE!"

Despite the heavy amount of weirdness in the situation, the pair let Pence lead them to a medium-sized, dome-shaped house a little ways away. Smoke was drifting from the chimney in it, and when they walked inside they saw Kairi putting some bread into a small oven.

"Oh!" She smiled. "Hey guys!"

Axel raised an eyebrow. "You work here?"

"Yup," She replied, smiling happily. "I actually just saw Riku a few minutes ago! He had a bunch of other guys with him. But he couldn't stay."

"Yeah, he was actually looking for you guys..." Pence added, suddenly talking back to normal as he took a candy from the counter.

"What happened to Pencildore?" Xion joked.

"Aw, I like to play it up when I'm outside. The whole Pencil thing is a joke. But seriously, I am a wizard."

Axel was obviously concocting a plan, rubbing his chin, deep in thought. "A wizard, huh?" He muttered. "We could really use a wizard on our side..."

"Axel!" Xion scolded, nudging him HARD in the waist.

"What's going on?" Kairi questioned, worried. She wiped off her hands on her apron, looking between the two of us.

"Uh... we're kind of wanted criminals," Xion said quietly, frowning. "If Riku catches us we're basically just going to die."

"I see," Pence murmured, resuming his deep Pencildore voice.

"...Yeah," Axel shrugged. "I was just thinking that with a mage like you on our side, we could make them stop following us with some... I dunno. _Magic._" When he said the last word Axel waved his hands around ominously.

"Doesn't work that way," Pence replied. Axel slumped.

"Well, I wish we could stick around with you guys, but..." Xion sighed. "Riku could be coming back this way any minute, and..."

"COME OUT WITH YOUR WEAPONS ON THE GROUND!" A voice called from outside.

Everyone in the room shared a worried glance.

Crap.

It was Riku.

"Shoot!" Xion whispered, shaking. "What do we do? What do we doo?"

"I think we can only go out and surrender," Axel admitted. "Wizard or no wizard, he's got more weapons and he'll kill us right away if we fight back."

Xion, quivering, took out her blade and slowly emerged from the bakery to see Riku's familiar face. His eyes dropped to the dagger in her hand, and he looked like he was ready to strike-

Before Xion slowly leaned down and placed the weapon on the grass.

"We'll go with you," She said, swallowing. Axel came out behind her, dropping his twin blades on the ground as well.

A satisfied smile crept across the knight's face. "Good. Tie them up. It's a long walk back to the King's Castle."

The two thieves didn't move while the rope was wrapped and knotted tightly around their wrists.

"Well... this looks like the end, Axel," Xion muttered, eyes on the ground.

"It sure does..."

They looked back at The Barrel and Cauldron one last time before being led away, and Pence and Kairi didn't emerge.

...But before they even made it a foot away, a figure in the distance began running towards them.

Riku squinted. "Wha? Who's that?"

When it got closer, Xion could tell it was Hayner... and he was sprinting as fast as he could in their direction. What?

The group seemed frozen until he got there.

"I... can't breathe..." Hayner gasped, wheezing incredibly heavily.

"What's going on here? I'm busy!" Riku demanded. Hayner held up his pointer finger.

"Just... a sec..." WHEEZE WHEEZE. "Jeezus..." WHEEZE. He finally composed himself, standing up and assuming a look of extreme urgency. "RIKU! SIR RIKU! I'm a messenger sent from the King!"

Riku and the Knights gasped.

"What's wrong!" One of them asked worriedly.

"A group of marauders is attacking the castle! There's too many of them! They're being led by four heavily armed warriors who have no mercy!" Hayner was practically screaming by the end of his message.

Riku stared in awe.

"We HAVE to get there!" He said loudly, turning to the knights behind them. "Prepare to run all the way to-"

"NO!" Hayner cut him off. "SIR KNIGHT, there aren't enough guards in the entire castle to take them down! Even adding you wouldn't be enough!"

Riku froze, thinking. "What... what can we do then?"

Suddenly, a grin slowly spread across Xion's face.

"_I_ have an idea..." She chuckled.

"S-silence criminal!" A knight demanded. Riku held up a hand, indicating for him to be quiet.

"Let the girl speak."

"Y-yes sir."

Sounded like one knight had a stutter.

Xion cleared her throat. "Well you see, Sir Riku, if you could just untie us, we have several friends who could help you out..."

x

(oDo)

x

"All right," Xion was currently leading a group of many knights, a jester, an innkeeper, a mage, a thief, and a baker to the outskirts of the castle. "We need to storm in and make it to the King's chambers as quick as possible. I don't know how long he'll be able to hold out alone with Namine."

A murmur of concurs went around the group.

"Pencil, you storm in and freeze the marauders on the outside, letting us pass. We can fight our way to the King!"

Xion raised her dagger to the sky, bringing out a cheer from the group, and a smirk of approval from Riku.

And then they were on the move.

There were indeed marauders patrolling the outskirts of the castle, looking very menacing with their armor and weapons. Pence stormed ahead of the group, letting out a rain of blizzard spells onto them - actually blue beanbags with yarn on the end of them. But, hey, it was getting too real to notice anything lame at that point.

The drawbridge was down - probably opened by one of the invaders to let reinforcements arrive - and the group stormed into the stone building.

_Immediately_ they were overtaken by warriors, and the fighting began.

Xion found herself alongside Riku - who proved to be a lot more skillful than she was. Still, though, she took down a few marauders, ducking and parrying their sword strokes. Knocked three at a time back with ease.

"How you doing?" He breathed, only halfway turning his head to look. Xion was only fighting one warrior... but Riku was handling two at the same time.

Right as Xion knocked her opponent in the chest, muttering, "You're dead," she turned to see Riku fighting, his back against hers. She could also overlook the rest of the group battling, and they seemed to be holding themselves up pretty well.

Axel was taking on a few at once with his double daggers.

Pence was blasting spells at big groups, left and right.

"TAKE THAT!" Kairi yelled, throwing a pie into the face of one attacker. The secret weapon of the baker.

Sora was knocking heads with his wooden juggling balls, along with Olette, who brought along a rolling pin to kick butt with.

The battle was getting intense until suddenly... all of the marauders stopped and turned towards a voice coming from further down the hallway.

"Nice try, _lamers," _The voice said. "But it's gonna take a lot more than a few losers to get in our way."

"Seifer!" Riku growled, holding his sword at the ready. "You'd better surrender!"

"Psh, you wish!" The blonde scoffed, stepping forward. Everyone in the hallway parted to let him pass. They were completely in awe. "We're gonna be the new kings in this town by the end of the day! We're breaking all the rules!"

His posse was following close behind him. "Yeah! Seifer's gonna beat your king, ya know?" Rai said encouragingly.

"Yeah, nobody can stop us!" Vivi chimed in.

"Total Domination," Fuu simply muttered.

"NEVER!" Riku yelled, attempting to lunge at Seifer.

Xion caught at the last minute one of the marauders throwing a knife directly at Riku to stop him... and she thought fast.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion as she lunged over, hand outstretched and blocked the knife - at the penalty of it hitting her wrist.

"AUGH!" She yelped, falling to the ground, clutching her open wound. "MY HAND!"

Riku crouched by her side immediately, his eyes wide.

"Are you okay?"

"I... I think I lost my hand..."

Riku quickly ducked close to Xion's face to avoid a sword aimed at his head, before Sora ran over and knocked the attacker down.

"You'll probably have a bruise there tomorrow..." He continued, feeling at the mark on Xion's hand.

Oh. Right.

Only a game.

Riiight.

No open wounds here.

"Do I have to pretend I have no hand now?" Xion whispered, blinking. Riku nodded slightly.

"You... saved me. Even though I tried to capture you." He sounded mildly confused, as if it didn't comprehend in his mind.

"I wasn't about to let you die," Xion shrugged, rubbing her neck with her good hand. "I have to fight lefty now, I guess."

"You don't have to fight any more," Riku replied quietly, his teal eyes burning into Xion's. Strangely, the girl felt even more excited and jumpy than before the LARP started.

The amount of marauders still around was diminishing... and eventually all that was left was Seifer and a few of his cronies.

"We can take you guys!" Seifer said through gritted teeth.

"Blizzard!" Pencildore called, tossing a spell to freeze them. "Now that they're frozen, we can-"

"YAHH!" Seifer attacked anyway, even though he was _supposed_ to be frozen.

"LOOK OUT!" Sora yelled, while everyone dodged away. "HE DOESN'T FOLLOW THE RULES!"

Seifer's gang attacked, all of them using better weapons that what the ragtag team had. Several of Riku's knights were already dead and couldn't help, unfortunately... So Riku stood up protectively over Xion.

"Doesn't follow the rules, huh?" He said to himself, determined.

Riku walked over to Seifer and yanked his weapon from his hand forcefully.

"HEY!" Seifer barked, but Riku didn't reply, just pushing him back towards the door. It looked like Seifer wasn't exactly sure what was going on until he was actually halfway onto the drawbridge, when he started fighting back.

With his fists.

Riku ducked a punch that was thrown at him, then pushed Seifer into the moat.

Yes.

Into the moat.

Axel's eyebrows rose, seeing this, and he began to follow suit, starting to wrestle with Rai.

Olette and Fuu started up their own little catfight, while Sora easily punted Vivi into the water. In fact, it wasn't long before Seifer's whole gang was floating in the gross moatsludge, swearing and screaming curses at Xion and the others.

They were ignored.

"I can't believe we did it!" Kairi gasped, obviously very excited. "We should check and make sure the king is okay!"

"Yeah..." Riku muttered distractedly, making his way over to Xion, slowly. He helped her up.

"Thanks for that..." Xion mumbled, rubbing her eye accidentally with her _right_ hand. "Oh, oops. I don't have a right hand... I forgot."

Riku face Xion dramatically. "The rest of you guys can go. Axel, Xion and I can explain to King Roxas what happened."

Pence nodded, and Sora shrugged. "Okay, if you're sure. See you guys later! I'm gonna remember this forever!"

"Great job you guys!" Olette smiled.

"I'm going back to the bakery," Kairi informed everyone, munching on some leftover pie. Pencildore the great followed behind her, asking for some.

Silence engulfed the hallway. It was pretty trashed, actually, with pictures knocked off the wall, tables overturned, and flowerpots shattered.

"That was pretty wild, huh?" Axel said to break the silence.

"...Yeah," Riku replied, still staring at Xion.

And then, without much warning at all, he leaned in and interlocked his lips with hers.

Xion's eyes went wide - but eventually they closed, as she found herself getting lost in the rapture of the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck, despite what was supposedly a severe injury on her right hand.

When they split, Axel whistled.

"If you two love birds are all done, we can go tell the king now..." He said slowly, making his way to the door. Riku looked up at him.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Riku led the way, opening the fancy door into the King's room.

"Sir Knight!" Roxas demanded. "What went on here? And why are you with the two criminals?"

"Well, you see," Xion began, but Riku help up a hand to stop her.

"I have finally captured them, your majesty... And defeated the invading marauders!" Axel and Xion's jaws dropped when they heard Riku speaking. "Axel the Ambidextrous and his young, innocent-looking accomplice shall face justice at last!"

"Very good!" King Roxas smiled contentedly. "Take them to the deepest, darkest chamber we have in the castle! I shall stay here with my lovely queen and listen to soothing lute music."

Namine giggled and hopped onto Roxas's lap.

Axel pretended to gag.

"TAKE THEM AWAY!" Roxas demanded.

Xion couldn't speak until they were at the door of the inside dungeon, which, unlike the outside one, was inescapable.

Completely inescapable.

"Well, in you go," Riku said, opening the door and pushing Axel inside. Right as he was about to push Xion, she stomped her foot.

"You... you tricked me!" She hissed, clenching her fists. "You're... OHHH! You're horrible!"

Riku smirked once more, leaning close to Xion's face. "See you after the game, Xion," He murmured, kissing her cheek before shoving her violently into the deep, dark stone cell.

All Axel and Xion could do was wait until the game ended.

"...I hate LARP-ing," Xion muttered after about a minute.

"You got that right," Axel agreed.

* * *

LOLOLOLOLOL

The end!

That was so super fun to write, I can hardly get over it! XD

I don't even have the patience to proofread!

Please tell me if there's anything wrong in the story, such as a small typo.

I hope you enjoyed it... REVIEW please! I really love reviews!

Riku and Xion are like... together in this story. I guess. Take that kiss how you may.

I've never been LARP-ing, but as you may be able to see by this story, I would very much like to because I think it's packed with adventure. :3

Yup. So that's that.

-Sono ^-^;


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